Green Bean Cafe at McConnell Center closes

Wednesday

Sep 28, 2011 at 3:15 AMSep 28, 2011 at 8:50 AM

By Laurenne Ramsdelllramsdell@fosters.com

DOVER — After five years of bringing soup, salad, sandwiches and snacks to hungry downtown residents and business professionals, the Green Bean Cafe has shut down its operations in the McConnell Center.

According to McConnell Center Administrator Gary Bannon, the closing was a move made by Green Bean Cafe owners looking to consolidate their business by taking staff and equipment from the Garrison City location and reassigning them to locations in Exeter and Pease International Tradeport.

Bannon said the cafe's five-year lease for the McConnell Center vending location recently ran out, and owners were faced with the decision to renew the lease for another five years or move on. As the first floor cafe has been boarded up and signs were taken down around Labor Day weekend, it's clear the decision made by owners was to vacate the Dover site.

Cafe owners could not be reached for comment by Foster's on Monday.

"The Green Bean was a really good fit for us," said Bannon. "Its offerings were ideal and the times it was opened worked for us."

Not only did the cafe cater to the community center's tenants, according to Bannon it also drew a lot of activity to the center with more than half of its clientele coming from outside of the building.

"It gave the center a whole extra life," he said.

As the McConnell Center Advisory Board tries to fill the void the Green Bean has left, Bannon said they will begin soliciting vendors and requesting proposals for how the space could be used.

"Just by word of mouth, several unsolicited businesses have contacted us and have been asking questions," said Bannon. "We're excited to see what the future holds for that space."

Although no formal proposals have been made as of yet, and filling the vacant food vendor space is only in preliminary stages, Bannon said vendors who have shown interest in the location are similar to the soup, salad and sandwich menu offered by the Green Bean, while others are geared more toward breakfast foods.